


Love and Money

by Nymph3



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bi Ron Weasley, Draco Malfoy is Not a Death Eater, Draco stopped being awful in third year, Gay Blaise Zabini, Harry Potter & Ron Weasley Friendship, Hogwarts Sixth Year, M/M, One-Sided Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Sirius Black Lives, Supportive Harry Potter, wolfstar is mentioned briefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 09:46:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29366493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nymph3/pseuds/Nymph3
Summary: The time Ron’s siblings thought he had a Sugar DaddyOr, Blaise is very rich, and gift giving is his love language. Ron is poor, and his family is suspicious
Relationships: Ron Weasley/Blaise Zabini
Comments: 4
Kudos: 125





	Love and Money

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little one-shot that popped into my head one day 
> 
> So for the purpose of this fic, Ron and Lavender dated in fifth year instead of sixth, and Draco and his friends stopped being awful in third year.
> 
> Also for this fic, I'm taking a page from the movies, and having everybody just dress in muggle clothes

“Harry!”  
Harry grunted, suddenly having a face full of busy hair. “Alright, Mione?” He huffed. She pulled away, ducking her head, which wasn’t like her. She usually looked him over, when they saw each other again, fussing over him. “Mione?” Her face was red, eyes red-rimmed and bloodshot. She’d been crying. His blood ran cold. “What is it? What’s happened?” 

After Bellatrix struck Sirius at the ministry last year, he was still in a coma. Remus was by his side constantly, and he promised to update Harry the second there were any changes. 

Hermione’s eyes widened. “Oh, no, Harry, it’s nothing like that! It’s-“ her voice cracked. “Oh, it’s not even something I should even be upset about! Not reasonably!” 

“Let’s take this upstairs, shall we?” Fred and George ushered them upstairs. “I thought you two moved out?”  
“Oh, we did.” Fred replied. “But it seems our baby brother has gotten himself into a bit of a pickle.”  
“Ron? Where is he? What’s wrong?” Harry was shepherded into Ginny’s bedroom, where she sat listening through one of the twins’ extendable ears. “Shh!” She hissed at them. 

“Are they still talking?” Hermione asked, sitting next to her.  
“Mum’s doing most of the talking. Ron hasn’t said a word in ages.”  
“Will someone please tell me what’s going on?” Harry snapped. Ginny made a shooing motion at Fred and George, who gathered at Harry’s sides. “Has Ron said anything to you about his new boyfriend?”  
“HIS WHAT?”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The twins sat him down. “So a little after he got back, Ron started getting letters. A LOT of letters,” George began.  
“And he was sending them too,” Fred added. “Poor Pig’s been exhausted. And Ron would always snatch them up before anyone could see them, and run up to his room to read them. He never does that for either of you.” 

“He used the floo a lot,” Ginny added. “Mostly to go out, but I’ve caught him on a couple calls in the middle of the night.”  
“Then,” George picked up. “The letters started coming with packages attached. And all of a sudden ‘ickle Ronnikins’ has got brand-new Quidditch supplies, fancy chocolates, and everything.”  
“Don’t forget the clothes,” Ginny added. “It’s mostly clothes, clothes that he won’t let anyone touch. I nicked a jumper once, he was so mad-“  
“It was from this Italian designer,” Fred interrupted. “Georgie and I would never be able to afford anything like it. Neither could Mum and Dad, so the odds of Ron buying it...” “Slim to none,” George finished. “And whenever we ask, he goes on about his ‘boyfriend’ who apparently ‘just likes to buy stuff’. 

“You don’t believe him?” Harry looked around at their faces, each showing varying levels of concern. “We think... well, it was Mum’s idea, but we think he’s some sort of gigolo... but maybe for a bloke.”  
“A what?”  
“He’s got a sugar daddy, Harry!” Hermione burst out. “I knew Ron didn’t like being poor but I didn’t think-“  
“I never would have thought,” Ginny interrupted. “I mean, he always got so red when that kind of thing was brought up-“  
“No.” Harry said, shaking his head firmly.  
“Harry-“  
“NO! This is Ron we’re talking about! He wouldn’t!” 

“I didn’t even know he was gay...” Harry trailed off.  
“We didn’t either,” Ginny said, still holding up the extendable ear. 

Harry caught Hermione’s eye, now understanding. That was what she was upset about. That now she knew she had no chance with Ron. And that was why she said it was unreasonable. Because it wasn’t anyone’s fault, Ron hadn’t led her on.... 

Ginny jumped, throwing the ear away from her as the voices got increasingly louder. Fred yanked their door open, and they could clearly hear Ron’s yells.  
“-don’t you DARE talk about him like that!” Harry met George’s eye for a split second, before tearing down the stairs, ignoring the other’s hisses for him to stop. 

“YOU DON’T KNOW HIM! HE’S BEEN NOTHING BUT GOOD TO ME! HE WOULD NEVER-“ Ron cut off when he saw Harry standing on the bottom stairs. His face brightened, scowl all but disappearing. “Harry! When did you get here, mate?” Mr and Mrs Weasley’s heads shot towards him. 

“Oh, erm, just a little bit ago.” Ron gave him a big hug, and he patted his back a bit less enthusiastically than usual, suddenly feeling like he was intruding. Mr and Mrs Weasley were still very tense, Mrs Weasley’s mouth pressed into a thin line. 

“Lovely to see you, Harry, dear,” Mrs Weasley said. “Ronald-“  
“Is taking Harry upstairs now,” Ron spat, pulling on the boy’s arm.  
“Ron-“  
“Ronald! We are not finished!”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Ron slammed the door behind them and flopped face down onto his bed. 

Harry gingerly sat down next to him, fidgeting with his hands. He examined the room around him, but he’d been in Ron’s room plenty of times, so it didn’t take long. “So.” his voice cracked. He cleared his throat. “So,” he said again. “Boyfriend?”

Ron let out a loud, long groan, and rolled onto his back with his eyes closed. “Yep,” he answered, popping the ‘p’.  
“Cool.”

Harry finally got a good look at his friend. On one hand, his clothes still looked like something Ron would wear: a jumper, jeans, trainers. On the other, the jumper was definitely new. It was a blue that matched his eyes, and it looked ridiculously soft, and probably expensive. The jeans were dark, without any sign of fading or fraying like his usual hand-me-downs, and the trainers were the same. On top of that, all of it fit Ron much better than any of his old clothes. Harry cleared his throat again. 

“How long have you two.... been a thing?” Ron opened his eyes, and his face softened into the sappiest look Harry had ever seen on him. (Love-sick)  
“We started talking at the end of term,” he sighed. “He said he’d write, and he did. I visit him sometimes, and sometimes we talk over floo.”

Harry nodded. “So he’s at Hogwarts?”  
“He’s in our year, yeah.”  
Harry nodded again. He didn’t know how to bring it up, so he decided to just bite the bullet.  
“I didn’t know you liked blokes,” he blurted out.  
Ron eyed him curiously. “I never dated one before. Why would you?”  
“Well- well what were you doing with Lavender last year then?”  
Ron frowned. “Dating her.” He spoke slowly, as if he were talking to a small child, but the look on his face said that he didn’t know why Harry was confused.  
“Why were you dating her if you like blokes? And don’t look at me like that, Fred and George didn’t know you did either!”

Ron sat up. “Mate, you know you can like both... right?”  
Harry’s face felt hot. “Both?”  
“Yeah. I wasn’t hiding behind Lav or anything, I liked her, really. We just didn’t work out.”  
“Oh.” Harry’s voice went quiet, and he felt all his frustration leave rather abruptly.  
“Fred and George really didn’t know?”  
“No.”  
“Huh.” Ron frowned contemplatively. “I thought you all knew. I never tried to hide it. And I thought, with the way they made fun of me about Krum...” 

Harry slapped a hand to his forehead. Of course! The Victor Krum situation! Harry always thought he was jealous that Hermione had gone with Krum instead of him, but it was probably the other way around. (Or maybe he’d been jealous of both of them?)

“So, this boyfriend,” Harry began. “Hmm?” Ron smiles at the very mention of him. (Ugh, he had it bad) “He likes to... buy you stuff?”  
Ron nodded.  
“Yeah. That’s kind of his thing, when he cares about someone. It drove me mental at first. I thought he pitied me or thought I had to look a posh type of way to be seen with him., But, I dunno, he’s just really sweet. He like taking care of me, and... I guess I kinda like being spoiled every once in a while.” 

Harry smiled. Ron seemed really happy with this bloke. And yeah, he got why Mrs Weasley would jump to the conclusion she did, but she had it wrong. “Why’s your mum throwing such a fit, then?”  
“Oh, she doesn’t like the idea of him.” Ron’s voice took a bitter turn. “She think he’s an ‘unwise choice, Ronald’. ‘Oh, his family’s like that, Ron’. ‘Oh, but he’s so rich, why would he want you?”

Harry jerked. “She didn’t really say that, did she?”  
“No, but she might as well have. With all her talk about him taking advantage,” Ron spat. “Talking about how buying me stuff, was buying me. He’s not! He just-“

“Likes spending money?” Harry offered.  
Ron’s voice was quiet now. “He says I deserve nice things.”  
Harry didn’t know what to do, except to put an arm around his friend’s shoulders. But some of his words started bouncing back in his head. Posh, family, rich, our year. Harry jerked away as if he’d been burned.  
“Ron,” he started, not wanting to continue his sentence. But it had to be said. “You’re- you’re not seeing- Malfoy- are you?”  
Ron stared at him in disbelief. Then he burst out laughing. 

“Ron! Ron!” Harry started beating him with his pillow. “Tell me you have not been snogging Draco bloody Malfoy! I’ll send you to St Mungo’s myself!”

“I’m not! I’m not!” Ron choked through his laughter. “Merlin, mate, who do you think I am?”  
Harry gave him one last whack, and glared down at him.  
“Don’t scare me like that! I don’t care who the bloke is, but don’t show up on Malfoy’s arm!”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The rest of of the summer holidays were... tense. Mrs Weasley had three more shouting matches with Ron, and Mr Weasley cast privacy charms on the rooms they argued in so the others couldn’t hear anything, even with Fred and George’s inventions. 

Harry saw what the twins meant about the letters, Ron seemed to receive at least one every day or so. And he always ran up to his room to read them, sometimes not coming back down till he had a letter of his own to post. He didn’t use the floo to go anywhere, but when Harry asked him about that, Ron shrugged and said “I told him I was catching up with you. We’ll meet up when we go buy our school books, anyway. You and Hermione can meet him then.” 

Hermione, having been partly reassured by Harry that no, Ron did not have a Sugar Daddy, just a very generous boyfriend (though he wasn’t sure she believed him) she spent more time with the two of them, and her curious and sometimes mildly concerned looks sent Ron’s way decreased, but didn’t disappear. 

Ron only received one package by owl during Harry’s stay, but by the way his face lit up, you’d think he’d received a thousand. This one was just a book about Quidditch maneuvers and the players who created them, with a note that said:

‘Saw this and thought of you. xxx’

(Mrs Weasley still frowned when she saw it)  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Finally, their school lists arrived, and they all headed out to Diagon Alley. They took a visit to Fred and George’s shop, letting Harry see it for the first time. He could’ve spent hours in there, trying to figure out what anything was, but before long Ron was saying goodbye and tugging him and Hermione out. With Ginny following. He hadn’t invited her, but she knew what them slipping off meant. 

It was time to meet the boyfriend. 

Ron had made an effort with his appearance today, something Harry had never seen him do, and while he just wore a forest green jumper, jeans, and trainers, Harry had witnessed that morning how he’d changed every one of those items at least three times each.

They approach a new place, Witch’s Brew, a wizarding coffee shop that opened in the past year. But instead of going in, Ron leaned against the wall. “I’m just gonna wait for him. You guys can go inside.” They stayed put. After about five minutes, Ron stood up straight. “He’s running late. Let’s go sit, we can- mHPH!” 

Two dark hands reached and spun Ron around, and before Harry could blink, his best mate was being thoroughly, passionately snogged, by Blaise. Bloody. Zabini.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Harry looked to Ginny and Hermione, but they looked just as shocked as he was. He didn’t know much about Blaise, he’d never even heard him speak. All he knew was that he was a Slytherin, a lot of girls liked him, oh, and yeah HE WAS DRACO MALFOY’S BEST MATE!!!

They had been snogging long enough to make the three of them feel very uncomfortable by now, and Hermione cleared her throat. “Excuse me,” She called.  
“Yeah, we’re still here, mate,” Harry added. Ron pulled away slightly, still wrapped in Blaise’s arms, His now flushed face turning even redder. 

Blaise planted a few more kisses on his cheek and neck before pulling away and looking at the others. He was handsome, that’s for sure, with his smooth dark brown skin and molten brown eyes. He was just slightly shorter than Ron, and wore a black button up, rolled up to his elbows, with dark jeans and black dress shoes. 

He smiled at them, and extended a hand. “Blaise Zabini,” He said in his deep voice. They all took turns shaking his hand.  
“Hermione Granger.” Hermione’s voice was a bit shaky, but she held his gaze. “Pleasure.”  
“Pleasure’s all mine. Shall we?” He opened the door for them and ushered them in, the over to a booth. 

They made pleasant, polite conversation that was only a little bit awkward. Blaise was a charming bloke, who kept an arm wrapped around Ron the entire time, taking whatever opportunity to plant kiss on his cheek or neck. He took the bill, telling them to buy whatever they’d like, and when Ron couldn’t decide between three different desserts, Blaise bought all three and extra to go. 

In the end, as the exited the shop, Harry could tell that Hermione and Ginny were still suspicious, but he couldn’t help liking Blaise. 

He was clever, and charming, with a teasing and dry wit that well matched Ron’s own. He was open in a way Harry was unused to seeing from Slytherins, and he spent the time he wasn’t answering Hermione and Ginny’s hounding questions looking at Ron in nothing short of pure, unbridled adoration. 

“I really wish I could come meet your parents, love, but we all promised Pansy we’d accompany her shopping today, and if I don’t go now they’ll come looking-“  
“There you are!”  
“And speaking of,” Blaise murmured, tucking his face into Ron’s neck. 

Harry turned to see Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy. “I just finished telling Draco here that there was no way you ditched us,” Parkinson drawled. Blaise grinned.  
“Aww, Dray,” He cooed. “Did you miss me?”  
“Shut up, you wanker,” Malfoy snapped. But they both grinned. Malfoy turned to the rest of them. “Weasley. Potter. Granger.” He tilted his head, eyes landing on Ginny. “Girl-Weasley?”  
“Ginny,” she snapped. He only nodded.  
“Come along, Blaise,” Parkinson called. “I need new shoes.”  
“You always need new shoes.”  
“There are always new shoes to be needed,” she smirked. 

“Sorry, love,” Blaise kissed Ron briefly. “I’ll owl you later.”  
“You’d better.” They kissed again, longer this time, before Blaise turned and joined his friends. Malfoy said something that made him throw his head back and laugh, shove him, then pull him close and wrap an arm around his shoulders. Harry watched as Ron’s face softened into the most cavity-inducing gaze that Harry now associated with Ron looking at Blaise. 

Later, as Ron received Blaise’s promised owl along with a box of the most expensive-looking chocolates Harry had ever seen, Ron’s face had that Look again. 

Harry only smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> The only reason Hermione’s not jealous and even trying to get along with Blaise is because she thinks that Ron is gay, and has absolutely no interest in girls. As he told Harry, that’s not the case, but she doesn’t realize that.


End file.
